


Gotham's Biggest Ship

by chamsie



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Changed to T for some language which i forgot about, I write the stupidest things LOL, M/M, Yes that relationship tag is right, add my tears, add tears to grow faster, as in my tears, batfam, does that tag apply, just add water, no it's not in a serious way, thanks jason, what am i even tagging at this point, while all my serious fics grow slowly in the dark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 03:52:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10481475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chamsie/pseuds/chamsie
Summary: There was one persistent open secret that had never before reached the ears of the BatCave, and it had existed for much longer than one would have realized.The fact that everyone knew of the epic romance of Bruce Wayne and the Batman.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this lovely art+post](https://twitter.com/evinist11241/status/755765962041720832) by the super talented [evinist](https://twitter.com/evinist11241) . (Warning, the art post is sexy!) 
> 
> I took it in a completely different direction than I wanted. I'll have to come back and try again when I get a better grasp of these beautiful characters (i.e. when I get my hands on some comics).

Gotham, like any place, is quirky in its own way, with unique urban legends and things that everybody knows about so no one ever remarks on it directly.  Things like the Court of Owls, some old time nursery rhyme to scare the children into behaving.  Things like the giant divide between rich and poor within the ever-growing city, like the rampant mafia scene, the fact that Crime Alley is Red Hood territory and you abide by his rules if you’re doing business there, especially when he’s in town.  Even small things like the fact that the best place to get ice cream was at Florean’s Deli were some of the open secrets known to Gothamites.  

 

And like all great cities, the gossip in Gotham was always hot, helped along by nosy, fervent journalists such as the infamous Vicki Vale.  

 

Batman kept on top of all of this information through various methods: eyes and ears to the ground, inside sources, digital surveillance, and a homeless network not unlike that of Sherlock Holmes’.  Yet, there was one persistent open secret that had never before reached the ears of the BatCave, and it had existed for much longer than one would have realized.  

 

The fact that _everyone_ knew of the epic romance of Bruce Wayne and the Batman.

* * *

“They call it...Knight-shipping?” Tim continued to read out incredulously from his laptop. Crime had been slow; that had to be why the Buzzfeed article ( _Top 15 Reasons Why Gotham Can’t Get Enough of Bruce Wayne and His Dark Knight)_ had even ended up on his screen, since he had a strict algorithm searching for all references to both day and night personas. The lack of news-worthy action must have made someone write utter nonsense. “Dark Knight Batman and White Knight Bruce Wayne, saving this city in tandem day and night.”

 

Beside him, Stephanie was laughing so hard that her laptop was in danger of falling to the floor along with Cass’ face (who was skyping the family from Hong Kong).

 

“That’s asinine, Drake.” Damian said without glancing up from his phone, fingers flying across the screen. Either he was typing a text or playing a game because his taps were too intense to be anything else. “Everyone knows Harvey Dent is the ex-White Knight of Gotham.”

 

“What?!”

 

“Bruce Wayne is historically the ‘Pampered Prince’ and the ship is properly titled ‘Fairytale-shipping’. To call it Knight-shipping is a misconception and the erroneous naming is championed only by a small misguided portion of delusional Gothamites.”

 

Tim was flabbergasted. Maybe the article wasn’t utter nonsense if the brat knew about it too. He stared at Damian and asked, “How do _you_ know so much about this? You didn’t read this already, did you?”

 

Damian glanced at him exasperated, like he was missing several brain cells. “I go to a school of excitable, gossiping youths. How would I not know?”

 

Finally catching her breath, Stephanie cut in, face red and voice still wheezy.  “Pampered prince I get, but how’d Brucie even get a moniker like ‘White Knight’ in the first place?  He’s a ditzy playboy, not Harvey freaking Dent.”

 

Damian scoffed but didn’t have an answer.  He heard the gossip, but he didn’t exactly go digging for the history and facts. It was his _father_ being ‘shipped’ after all. With himself no less.

 

After scrolling down the webpage some more, Tim provided the answer. “It’s because of how much Bruce has donated over his lifetime.  Gotham already sings the praises of his parents.  Bruce continues the tradition by being one of the few, maybe the only, member of Gotham’s upper crust who donates frequently and lavishly enough to make people think he actually cares.”

 

Dick, sitting on the couch beside Damian, had been strangely quiet for the last while. When Tim observed his face, the eldest looked torn between laughing like Steph (which he’d done when Tim first started reading the article) and screaming with horror (which he hadn’t done yet, but was likely coming close to now that he’d probably started to think about _why_ exactly Gotham was certain Batman and Bruce were a thing).  

 

“It has to have started from the time Grayson and Father were both Batman.” Damian proposed.

 

“They didn’t ever interact as Batman and Bruce though,” Stephanie pointed out.  

 

“ _No_ ,” Cass’s voice chimed in from the laptop.  “ _Fall charity drive._ ”

 

They all jolted. Cass hadn’t said anything since Tim noticed the Buzzfeed article and they all nearly forgot she was still on call.  

 

Tim prompted, “Which…?”

 

“ _Firefighters and homeless children.”_

 

"The one with puppies?"

 

Cass nodded  

 

“Ahhh, _that_ one.”

 

Stephanie was contemplative for a moment. “That’s probably what stirred the pot up. No, it definitely did. Dick, you swooped in from the Ice Parlour’s skylight and carried Bruce out bridal style.”

 

“Yes,” said Damian, completely deadpan. “It was ‘so romantic’ and Bruce Wayne must have felt ‘like a princess’.”

 

“Please don’t quote your classmates,” Dick said weakly. “And definitely not about that. There were armed terrorists and about two hundred witnesses, Steph. Bruce was the target and he couldn’t _do_ anything! I had to move him!”

 

Stephanie held up her hands placatingly. “Hey, just saying. Objectively, you, as Batman, looked like you were saving a damsel.”

 

“Found a photo of it!” Tim exclaimed. “Someone turned it into a wallpaper and it’s actually decent.” He turned his laptop around and lo-and-behold there was Batman with Bruce Wayne clutched tight to him as they swung out of the Ice Parlour gallery in glorious HD.

* * *

Jason, Tim, and Damian were on a burger run when the topic naturally came up. If asked, none of them could remember how they’d ended up discussing it, but it happened anyway.

 

“What? BruceBat?” Jason asked once the explanations of the Buzzfeed article, Knight-shipping, and Damian’s classmates had been given.

 

Damian raised an eyebrow at him from behind his milkshake. “Another ‘ship’ name?”

 

“Yeah. Everyone’s got their preference, but BruceBat is the default.” Jason waved a Jokerized fry around, pointing it emphatically at his audience. “Don’t give me that ‘Fairytale-shipping’ bullshit; no one can tell who’s involved with crap names like that.”

 

“Jason?” Tim asked bewildered. How pervasive was the shipping if even Jason had heard of it? He and Damian stared at the older male like he’d grown a second head or fallen in from a different dimension.

 

“I’m from Crime Alley.” He stated with a shrug. “It’s the best gossip we have.”

 

“But - Bruce! Batman! You know they’re the same person!” Tim exclaimed.

 

Jason smiled wide like a shark at that. “Yea, and it’s fucking _hilarious._ I win big betting on BruceBat moments. I got insider intel after all.”

* * *

When Dick brought it up to Barbara during a little afternoon date he expected her to be surprised. She was but not how he’d expected her to be. “They’re still shipping Bruce with Batman?”

 

Dick jerked like he’d been hit.  “What do you mean _still?_ Don’t tell me you already knew of this!”

 

“Then I didn’t know of it.”

 

“Babs!”

 

“Chill, Dick.” Barbara smirked.  “I heard of it _years_ ago.  Just didn’t realize it was still a thing.”

 

Something about the way she emphasized ‘years’ made Dick suspicious.  “Just how long are we talking about here?”

 

“Since your Robin days, Boy Blunder.”

 

Since Dick was Robin? That was ages ago!  How the heck did Gotham ship Bruce with Batman for almost two decades without him ever finding out until now?

 

The red head waved off his shock. “I was in university.  The gossip there is incredible.  Half my friends shipped Bruce and Batman, the other half Bruce and Harvey.”

 

 Okay, Dick had been to college before too and he had never heard anything about Bruce Wayne and shipping. Bruce Wayne and money, sure. Bruce Wayne and a scandal involving three models and a poodle, of course. Bruce Wayne and ‘ _is he paying for you since you’re, y’know, his kid or something_ ’, just every second day. But Bruce Wayne and Batman? 

 

His jaw dropped, both horrified and fascinated that people actually shipped Bruce with the hero/villain community. Don’t get him wrong, Bruce was very handsome and desirable, but the family placing bets on when his next fling with Selena would happen was not the same as all of _Gotham_ wondering if Bruce was interested in his alter ego or the former identity of an insane criminal. Celebs got tonnes of gossip, but Bruce Wayne’s gossip was plain ridiculous to people who knew his secrets.

 

Barbara reached over and pushed his jaw back up. Her face took on a mischievous cast, right before she dropped another mental bomb. “Hey, if you think that’s mind blowing, the debate on whether Batman is better off dating Superman or a Robin is still ongoing.”

 

Dick’s brain really did break at that point.  

* * *

“Of course I knew.” Bruce stated calmly when they (Dick, Tim, and Damian who had been dragged along) confronted him in the cave. In the batsuit with the cowl down, he was a visual contradiction to the very rumours they were asking about. He showed no physical reaction to the news and continued to punch at the buttons of the chemical analysis machine.  

 

“You knew and you let it go on?” Tim asked.

 

“Why not?  Nothing’s happened because of it, and it gives an added degree of separation between ‘Bruce Wayne’ and ‘Batman’.”

 

Dick, who’d been listening by Tim’s shoulder, absorbed this info and suddenly realized something. “Oh my god, you used me!” Dick said, tone incredulous as the pieces slid into place in his mind.  “You totally used me during that charity event!”

 

Bruce raised one black eyebrow pointedly at him.  

 

“The firefighters and the orphan children with puppies! You _knew_ Gotham ships Bruce and Batman, and since you finally had another Batman you could trust, you _let me_ save you!”

 

The older man didn’t say anything in reply.  Didn’t even change facial expression.  He merely hummed and then returned to looking at the readouts on the display.  

 

“Bruce!” Tim and Dick cried.

 

“Perhaps,” Bruce finally said. He pressed print then walked back to the computer.  “Why are you so bothered by this? It’s an open secret. Like the Daily Planet shipping Clark and Superman.”

 

Even Damian boggled at this bit of info. The image was...quite pleasing to be honest (c’mon it was _Clark Kent_ and _Superman_ ) but Dick still found it weird since he knew both identities of the Man of Steel. To the side, Tim muttered “ _doe_ _s Kon know…?_ ” then pulled out his cell to text him about it.

 

“Lois has money on herself to win that ship war.” Bruce added.

 

Tim looked up and questioned, “But doesn’t she know - “

 

“Of course. She’s aiming to make a killing.”

 

A short silence in which Bruce ran several google searches for his compounds, then Dick broached the quiet with, “So...you and you?”

 

Bruce actually, honest to God, looked smug as he replied, “Yes, Bruce and Batman are the dominant ship of Gotham. Higher ratings than even SuperBat.”

 

Dick shook his head. “I’m trying to wrap my head around it…”

 

“There’s some rather tasteful fanfiction if you dig deep enough.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> The criminals of Gotham started the BruceBat ship because they noticed Batman looking into a lot of Wayne Enterprises’ affair. At first, they thought Batman was on Bruce’s payroll, but Jorge-who-was-working-for-Riddler-at-the-time suggested Batman had a more personal interest in looking out for Bruce Wayne’s company and the rumour snowballed from there.
> 
> It would have died out fast if Bruce hadn’t accidentally added fuel to the fire by publicly announcing his support of the Batman around then (a reporter caught him at an event and he didn’t actually announce support so much as say Batman was maybe something Gotham needed). Once Bruce found out, he actively found ways to fuel the fire over the years, from bat-shaped cufflinks to some flustered responses when asked specifically about Batman.
> 
> The most agreed upon ‘canon’ is that Bruce pays for Batman’s gadgets, but no one can agree on how they ‘met’. Some speculate that Batman saved Bruce down a dark alley one night and things escalated from there. Others believe that Batman investigated Bruce for gang ties and shady business deals but found a good man to fall in love with instead.


End file.
